Breast pumps are well known devices for extracting milk from a breast of a user. A breast pump may be used if the baby or infant is not itself able to express milk from the breast, or if the mother is separated from the baby or infant, for example, if away from the baby at work. The use of a breast pump to express milk may also be used to stimulate and increase milk production in women with a low milk supply.
Breast pumps make use of a vacuum to induce milk expression from a nursing mother's breast. The pumping action of the device draws the milk from the nipple to a collection vessel, and the pressure and/or frequency may be adjusted to the preferences of the mother.
A known breast pump for extracting milk from a user's breast is shown in FIG. 1. Such a breast pump unit 1 comprises a main body 2 and a collection vessel 3, such as a feeding bottle or bag. The collection vessel 3 is attached to the main body 2 by a screw fitting.
A breast-receiving funnel 5 is fixedly attached to the main body 2 for receiving the breast of a user. The funnel 5 has an inner surface 6 and comprises a mouth 7 and a throat 8. The mouth 7 is open at an outer end and the inner surface of the funnel 5 converges from the outer end towards the throat 8 to form a hollow recess in which a breast is received.
A vacuum pump unit (not shown) is formed in the main body 2 to create a vacuum, and comprises a diaphragm mounted in the main body to generate the required vacuum at the breast for milk expression. The diaphragm is deformed by means of a user manually operating a handle 4 extending from the main body 2, by means of a small electric motor mounted to or in the main body, or by means of an attached vacuum tube connected to a desktop base containing an electric vacuum pump (not shown).
Expressed milk is considered to be very precious and is known to have a high emotional value to mothers that have expressed milk from their breasts. However, a problem with a breast pump, as described above, is that milk is known to adhere to an inner surface of the funnel and the main body, and so not all the expressed milk is delivered to the collection vessel for use. Therefore, this residual milk is considered to be a loss to a user, and this loss of milk may have an emotional impact on a mother.